Emery plots next steps in Williamson County

Cool Springs developer Pat Emery aims to set a new benchmark for suburban office development in Middle Tennessee with his latest project, Franklin Park.

The proposed 71-acre office park at McEwen Drive and Interstate 65 calls for up to five Class A office buildings totaling 1.5 million square feet, as well as shops and an apartment building.

But the corporate campus’s centerpiece and one of its selling points is the thing that ties it all together: an 11-acre, $10 million park, featuring a 600-seat outdoor amphitheater, three-plus miles of walking paths and boardwalks, ponds and open spaces for corporate events.

On Thursday, Spectrum Properties/Emery broke ground on the park designed by HGOR Planners & Landscape Architects of Atlanta, Ga., and Duda/Paine Architects of Durham, N.C.

“A lot of times, you’ve got to have a little sizzle before somebody is interested in the steak, so to speak,” said Thomas McDaniel, director of office properties for the Nashville office of Boyle Investment Co. “Many developers will try to lead off with some sort of amenities that the user can be excited for from day one as opposed to making those users wait. It takes deep pockets to do that, but certainly it’s the ideal way to lead with things.”

Emery called the green space “unprecedented” for Nashville office parks and said it will be what ultimately attracts corporate tenants to Franklin Park over the competition.

Each building also will have its own parking garage — something not common in suburban office parks, said David Wells, who is responsible for leasing and marketing Spectrum/Emery’s projects.

“The unique thing about the project is that, typically in the suburbs, you are able to provide adequate or above standard parking and no park or green space amenities,” Wells said. “It would just be a building and a big concrete parking lot. In this case, we are able to meet the needs of tenants with parking decks and at the same time they still get to enjoy an immaculate park-like setting. It takes Cool Springs to the next level.”

Emery is aiming to kick off the first office building by the end of this year and said he’s prepared to follow Boyle Investment Co.’s lead and start construction without an anchor tenant. Boyle began construction of a seven-story Class A office building at Meridian Cool Springs last summer.

Franklin Park will give Cool Springs “the potential for a Nissan-type headquarters to move in quickly,” said Matt Largen, head of economic development for Williamson County.

“Because of the way economic development has changed in the past few years, companies are doing far more research before they actually engage economic developers and local development,” Largen said. “They want to have moved in yesterday.”

Largen said Franklin park’s green space is “different for this area, no doubt.”

“Companies and executives are looking for more amenities with their corporate campuses because that’s what their employees expect,” Largen said.

Construction of Franklin Park’s 350-unit apartment building is slated to get underway by the end of the year, Emery said. The building could top $50 million.

Spectrum gained control of the property last year, when its financial backer J.P. Morgan paid $42 million for the land and a 151,000-square-foot Class A building from Crescent Resources.

Emery has been a leading force in the development of Cool Springs. He has built, leased, managed and sold more than 1.5 million square feet of Class A suburban office space in the area.

The project is the last major interstate site in Cool Springs suitable for office development, Emery said.

“This needed to be a very special project,” Emery said. “It’s a challenge. It’s a departure from what we’ve been doing. But it’s also the change that Cool Springs needs.”

“Our buildings are 98 to 99 percent full, and I think that’s the case with most of our friendly competitors,” McDaniel said. “A dramatic surge in new demand has yet to come, and hopefully it will come. But at least the retrenching is done, and I think slow solid growth has started.”